Newsletter: GL Enhances PacketExpert™
with Command Line and Multi Device Support
Welcome to another April 2012 issue of GL Communications' Newsletter providing information and insight into our Enhanced PacketExpert™ - Quad Port Ethernet / VLAN / MPLS / IP / UDP tester. Now multiple PacketExperts™ may be controlled with a single PC. Command line support has also been added.
Overview
PacketExpert™ is a portable Quad Port Ethernet / VLAN / MPLS / IP / UDP Tester with 4 Electrical Ethernet Ports (10/100/1000 Mbps) and 2 Optical Ports (1000 Mbps). PacketExpert™ connects to a Notebook PC through a USB 2.0 interface and each port provides independent Ethernet / VLAN / MPLS / IP / UDP testing at wirespeed for applications such as BERT, RFC 2544, and Loopback.
BERT is implemented for all layers (as depicted below). RFC 2544 is applicable for Layers 2, 2.5, and 3, and Loopback is applicable for Layers 1, 2, 3, and 4.
It truly takes confusion out of Ethernet testing at all protocol layers - from raw Ethernet frames to IP/UDP packets. It can be used as a general purpose Ethernet / IP performance analysis tool for 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps and 1 Gbps Ethernet local area networks and wide area networks. Below is a depiction of the protocol stack that is supported with PacketExpert™.
Command Line Interface (CLI) Modes:
Command Line Interface has been added to PacketExpert™ in three different modes: Console Based CLI, Client Server Based CLI, and Windows Client Server Based CLI. All functions available through the GUI are available through commands - such as All Port Bert, Bert Loopback, All Port Loopback, and RFC 2544 using any one of the 3 modes.
Console Based CLI
This is a stand-alone console based application. The user can enter commands in the console prompt, executed and results displayed in the console itself.
Client-Server Based CLI
This is also a console-based application. But, here, the CLI runs as a console based server, waiting for client commands. The client is also a console-based application that accepts commands through the command line, and executes only one command at a time. It sends the command to the server locally through a local UDP socket, waits for the result of execution. This is useful for automation, where the commands need to be called from a different third-party application. Both client and server must run on the same PC.
Windows Client Server (GL Windows Client/Server) Based CLI
This utilizes GL's WCS framework. Client sends the command to the server. Server processes the commands and replies with the results to the client. This does not necessarily require the client and server to run on the same PC.
Multi Unit Support for BERT and Loopback:
Single GUI/CLI can control multiple PacketExpert™ hardware units for BERT and Loopback. The additional units are displayed as additional ports in the GUI as shown below:
For comprehensive information on the application, please refer to the PacketExpert™ webpage.
Back to Newsletter Index Page